DDEAMC performs first surgery using new vascular graft

By Wes Elliott

Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center

Surgeons at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center performed a vascular bypass Jan. 27 using a newly approved vascular graft that has never been used at a military medical facility and has only been used three times in the United States.

Surgeons Col. Eric Martin and Maj. David Kauvar of DDEAMC performed a vascular bypass using the newlyapproved graft to bypass a blocked femoral artery in a patient’s leg.

The graft allows a vascular surgeon to bypass a blocked section of an artery and reroute blood flow back to where the artery is not blocked.

This procedure allows blood flow to the leg past the blockage and prevents several issues caused by reduced blood flow that may lead to the loss of the leg.

The two vascular surgeons performed a femoral to popliteal artery bypass to salvage the left leg of a 57 year-old patient with severe peripheral artery disease.

“The patient already lost one leg due to a similar issue and would likely have required amputation of both legs and been confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life if the operation had not had a chance for longterm success,” said Kauvar, DDEAMC attending vascular surgeon.

The new graft used was the Fusion Bioline Vascular Graft made by Maquet Medical Systems and has unique properties that make it resistant to infection and unlikely to clot which are two conditions which frequently cause artery bypass procedures to fail.